Edmonton Folk Festival 2026 lineup: New and familiar faces

Edmonton Folk Music Festival (EFMF) announced its 2026 lineup on May 28, featuring Of Monsters and Men, Nathaniel Rateliff, and Cat Power. EFMF will run from August 6–9, with tickets going on sale June 6. A total of 60 artists make up this year’s festival. 

“When I watch the ticket sales come in on June 6, the first 15 or 20 minutes pretty well tells me what I need to know,” Terry Wickham, the festival’s producer, said. 

“The world is full of great folk music. We only touch the surface of it,” he said. “Maybe we dig down and find a few diamonds, but there’s never a problem there.”

“Of course, we had disappointments along the way, that’s the nature of it … but I’m really pleased with this lineup.”

He added that headliners are more of a challenge to get these days as artists often make more money doing their own shows thanks to dynamic pricing. 

“Fortunately, they still like to play [festivals],” Wickham said. 

Main stage acts and School of Song lineup

Among this year’s headliners is Nathaniel Rateliff. He will close out the festival on the Sunday night solo.

“It’s a full circle moment for us because when we booked him the first time, he was a solo. It didn’t turn out that way because two months before [the festival] we got a call saying ‘hey, he’s got a band,’” Wickham said.

Thee Sacred Souls will end the first night of the festival. Of Monsters and Men will close Friday night. Arrested Development will return to Edmonton Folk Fest to finish the Saturday evening.

Another main stage act will be Corb Lund, a singer-songwriter who has more recently been campaigning against coal mining in the Grassy Mountains. 

“He’s been taking a lot of flack, in certain quarters, but it’s a pretty folky thing to do really,” Wickham said.

Other main stage acts include Cat Power, The Womack Sisters, Buffalo Traffic Jam, Leif Vollebekk, Bombino, Dailey & Vincent, Amble, and Annie & The Caldwells.

The School of Song will also return with Caylie G., Mitch Gorman, Paul Cournoyer, and The Western Thistles. CJSR radio host, Rhea March, brings together four emerging artists each year to form the School of Song.